John harraday



Hannah? THE NaRRls PETERS co., wAsumcraN, D. c.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEToE.

JOHN HAERADAY, or NEW YoRILN. Yf

MACHINE FOR on'ifriiof` OUT CLOTH.

To all whom/15 may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN HARRADAY, of the city, county, and State of NewYork, have invented a new and useful Machine for Cutting Out Cloth andother Fabrics and Materials Suitable for Garments and Furniture; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying` drawings,forming part of this specification, in whichl Figure l, is a sideelevation of themachine with the table supporting a quantity of clothinsection.` Fig. 2, is a front elevation of the` same, with the tableand clot-h in section. Fig. 3,`is a vertical section ofthe loose centerpiece of the table, and the surrounding parts, corresponding with l,

but on a larger scale. Fig. 4, is a vertical section of the` loosecenter piece, and surrounding portion of the table, with a side view ofa portion of the knife, corresponding with Fig. 2, but on the same scaleas Fig. l. Fig. 5, is a plan of the` loosecenter piece and itsseat.Figs. 6 and ,y are side views of two knives of different forms.

Fig, is a transverse section of the blade if of either knife. y a

Similar letters of `reference indicate cor-` responding parts in theseveral gures.

AThe main object of my inventionxis to cut l out several pieces orthicknesses of cloth or other fabric or material, at the same time, to auniform shape andsize, so that the corresponding parts of a number ofgarments o r pieces of furniture may be pro-duced by one cuttingoperation.

In order to effect the `above object, I place 1 the several pieces ofcloth on a table, and submit them to the action of a reciprocatingknife, which works through the said table `in a direction perpendicularthereto, but as the knife alone fails to cut perfectly a few of thelower thicknesses, I `have been led to devise'certain means" ofremedying thisobjection, and to thisend, the nature of my -inventionconsists in making one side and above it` with a somewhat similar actionto a pair of shears, and to prevent thembeing torn A'and forced by theknife downinto the opening and choking the opening so as to interferewith the free action of the knife.

The nature of my invention consists, secondly, in the employment of aknife of a l:certain form, which enables it to cut very small andintricate curves, as well as in straight or only slightly curved lines.n

The nature of my invention consists, thirdly, in making the bed or tablewith a loose center piece which contains the opening, into which thecutting knife enters, and the sharp edgewith which the knife works inContact, and which is capable of turning lon an axis in line with t-heaXis of a shaft 5 which carries the knife, and in gearing the 1 saidcenter piece with the said shaft in such a way, that both may rotate orturn to- ;gether, to enable the knife to present its `edge in vanyparticular direction, and to ,enable the cutting edge which is appliedto l the opening in the table, through which the `iknife passes, topreserve at all times its f properrelation to the knife.

c To enable those skilled in the art to make Yand use my invention,Iwill proceed to de- `scribe its construction and operation.

l A, represents the framing of the machine, supporting the horizontalwooden table, B, and extending upward above it to carry all l theworking parts.

C, is a vertical shaft, having journals fitted in suitable bearings, a,a, on the framf `a square opening directly through it, to re` ceive asmaller square shaft, D, which works 1freely through it. The outershaft, C, is furnished, near its lower end, with a bevel toothed wheel,b, which `gears with another bevel toothed wheel, c, on a horizontalshaft, E, which can be turned, whennecessary, by

a hand wheel, E', which is secured to it for gthat purpose. The shaft,D, which carries gthe cutting knife, is attached by a `balland 2 socketjoint, d, to a connecting rod,F, which "connects it with a stud, e, `onthe face of a i disk, G, which is secured to the front end of ahorizontal shaft, H, which is the driving shaft of the machine. Thestud, e, is adjustable at different distances from the axis of the disk,G, and is the equivalent of a crank of variable length, serving to givea `reciprocating motion to the knife shaft, D. `The disk is attachedtothe shaft by a clutch, T, which is thrown in or out of gear by meansof a lever, U,;as maybe desired.

The driving shaft receives motion through a belt which runs from anyprime mover to its driving pulley, V. f

To that part of the table, under the knife shaft, D, is secured a plate,I, which has a circular opening surrounded by a rabbet, f, (see Fig. 4,)to form a seat for the loose center piece which contains the openingthrough which the knife passes. The loose center piece is of circularform, and its construction will be understood by reference to Figs. 3,and 5. It is made in two parts, J, and K, o-f which, one part, J, ofsemicircular form, is cast with t-he hub of al bevel wheel, 7a, and theother part, K, of similar form, is merely a plate bolted to the hub ofthe wheel, la, by screw bolts, g, g.' The two parts, J, and K, form aflange all around the hub of the wheel, and fit the seat in the plate,I, so as to turn freely therein, and are flush with the table. The axisof the center piece is in line with the axis of the shaft, C. The bevelwheel, 7L, is precisely similar to that b, upon the shaft, @,and its hubis hollow, to allow the passage of the cutting knife through it. Thereason for making the center piece in two parts is to allow theinsertion in the opening through which the knife passes, and for theadjustment or removal, of a piece of steel plate z', to form t-he sharpedge with which the knife works, in or very nearly in close contact.This plate is bolted by screws, 7c, 7c, to the face y', of the part, J,of the center piece. lts face is flat, and one side of the knife is madeflat to correspond therewith, but the upper or acting edge of the plateis'represented as being slightly curved vertically, as projectingslightly above the face of the table and as terminating in an acuteangle K. This form of edge I consider to be best; but if the said plat-ehave its edge flush with the table and terminating in a right angle,provided the edge is sharp, it will serve nearly as well the purposes ofpreventing the lower pieces of cloth being dragged into the opening, andof assisting the knife in cutting them with an action resembling that ofshears, or the same purpose may be served byrmaking the opening with asharp rectangular edge, and fitting the knife close to it, provided thecenter piece be made of sufficiently durable material to retain a sharpedge. The bevel wheel, L, which is attached to the center piece gearswith a bevel wheel, 7c, on a horizontal shaft, M, below the bed. Thisbevel wheel, 72, is precisely similarto the bevel wheel, c, on thehorizontal shaft E. The shafts, E, and M, are furnished near their backends with similar spur wheels, Z, and m, which both gear with anintermediate spur wheel, n, and thus by turning the shaft, E, a corre-`sponding movement is given to the shaft, M, and mot-ion is transmittedby their bevel wheels, c, and lc, and the bevel wheels, 6, and L, to theshaft, C, and to the center piece, J, K, so that both may turn together,and the same relation may, at all times exist between them.

The knife may consist of a straight edged blade, O, as shown in F ig. 6,or of a blade, O', of the form shown in Fig. 7, either being firmlysecured to the shaft, D, by any convenient means. The knife, O, is shownin the machine, as it is applicable to the cutting of all forms, but theknife, O, is only capable of cutting in straight, or very slightlycurved lines, as it cannot turn in the cloth, and, if it be turned whenit has risen from the cloth, leaves no guide for the movement of thecloth upon the table. Either knife consists of a stiff blade, of uniformthickness from heel to point, entirely flat on the side which is to beplaced in contact with the plate z', and having a bevel on t-he otherside to make the cutting edge. The back part of the blade, O', isstraight,

and extended far beyond the extremity of 'I cutting edge, g, is parallelfor nearly its v whole length with the back of the knife, but it issloped or rounded off at r, to meet the rod, p. The rod, p, is capableof turning freely in the cut in the cloth, and also allows the cloth tobe turned, and thus allows the direction of the edge of the knife to bechanged, and the cloth to be t-urned in any direction to be fed towardthe edge of the knife, in order to make the cut follow any curved lines,and serves as a guide for the movement of the cloth upon the table, togive any desired direction to the cut. A number of pieces of cloth arerepresented in section upon the table, and indicated by R, R. They aremerely laid upon each other, and are kept firmly together, by a pressingpiece, S, which consists of a piece of metal with a slightly roundedface bearing on the cloth, and a slot to allow the knife to work throughit. This piece is attached to a rod, s', which is capable of sliding ina groove in one side of the shaft, C, and is conned in any positiontherein to bring the piece, S, to a proper height, by a clamping ring,t. The pressing piece, S, is intended to press just so much upon thecloth, as will hold it firmly, but not prevent the cloth being movedfreely under it.

The cloth is prepared for the operation of the machine, by marking outthe several parts of a garment, or any number of parts thereof, on asuitable length of cloth, in

such a way as to leave the least waste, as is usual in cutting a single.piece of cloth by hand, with shears, then cutting oft1 a number ofsimilar lengths of cloth,`and laying all the lengths upon each other, ina pile on the table, B, with the marked one at the top, and afterwardsbringing them under the pressing piece, S. The cutting knife is then setin motion, and its edge turned in the required direction, by turning thehand wheel, E. The operator stands in front of the machine, andvconductsthe pileof cloth by hand `toward the edge of the knife, in such a way asto present the lines marked on the top piece to the said edge, and asthe knife works up and down, it cuts through the whole pile. The edge ofthe knife is made to take the required direction in the cloth, either byturning the knife, or by turning the cloth, as the cloth is fed towardit. In some cases it may be more convenient to turn the knife, and inothers the cloth. The whole body of cloth is cut by the drawing of theedge of the knife in contact with it, except one or two thicknesses atthe bottom, which are cut by the combined action of the edge of theknife, and the edge of the plate, z'. These two edges act nearly inthesame manner as a pair of shears. The

plate, z', is not at all instrumental in cutting the upper thicknessesof cloth, as the knife will cut the whole number `of thicknesses fairlyand cleanly, except one or two at t-he bottom, which are always more orless imperfect when the cutter, z', is not used, even though the knifefits close to the edge of the opening in the table ;4 but the cuttingedge standing above the side of the hole effectually prevents any injuryto the lower thicknesses, and insures a perfectly clean cut throughout.When it is necessary to turn the knife andthe center piece of the table,or to turn the cloth, it is done when the cutting part is raised labovethe cloth and only the rod, p, remains therein, as shown in Fig. 4, andthe turning can, in almost` all cases, be eected without stopping themachine; but when it is necessary, the machine can be readily stopped bythe operator, as the lever, V, is in a convenient position, and thestoppage needs to be but of short duration.

The center piece of the table is free to turn without moving the cloth,as it is of small size, andthe cloth has a goo-d bearing on thesurrounding part of the table. The

`cut is made to produce the most perfect regularity of form, throughoutthe whole number of thicknesses, and all the waste from each thicknessmay be cut off in ca single piece, many parts of which would be useful,instead of being cut into shreds or small pieces as when cut by shears.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The employment for the purpose of cutting several thicknesses ofcloth or other fabric or material, of aY reciprocating knife whichworksthrough an opening in a table upon which the cloth is placed, and hasone side and its edge working in, or very nearly in close contact with asharp edged plate, z', or other sharp edge at one side of the saidopening, substantially as herein set forth. y,

2. The employment of a knife O, with the back extended in the form of arod, p, as, and for the purpose herein set1 forth.

3. Making the table which carries the cloth, fabric, or material, with aloose center piece, K, which contains an openingto receive the knife,and has its axis in line with the axis of the knife shaft, and is gearedwith the knife shaft so as to turn therewith, and at all times bear theproper relation thereto, as herein described.

JOHN HARRADAY. Witnesses:

O vD. MUN'N, S. H. WALES.

